The book and the movie both make Christina out to be the eternal victim. Most people who knew both Christina and Joan say that Christina's book (and the movie afterward) was the lowest sort of opportunistic character assassination. Many of Joan's friends who read the book and saw the movie were appalled, never speaking to Christina again...including the two twin girls who had been adopted by Joan after Christina and Chris. Christina said it wasn't about the money and the will which cut her and her brother out, but it absolutely was. Joan Crawford died with a lot of money left over from marriage to Al Steele, and Christina didn't see a dime of it, and that pissed her off. Oh, and then this: "DON'T F&%$ WITH ME FELLAS!!!!!" Man, Faye Dunaway wasn't just chewing the scenery, she was dining out on it! That's one of the greatest unhinged moments in that movie, when Joan flips out on the Pepsi board. I love that.
Again, the Twins were not even there when most of the abuse took place and by the time they show up, Christina was already sent away to school. It would seem the problem is that Christina turned out to be as headstrong as Joan and started to show it the moment she learned to speak. The honeymoon was over and reality hits. I knew someone who was friends with Christina when they were in college and saw first hand how Christina would freak out and becomes very anxious and fearful thinking about how Joan might react even if something was out of her control (like not being make it to a theater performance because of a snow storm). I am being a bit too specific here, if she reads this, she would know it's me.
Yes you are right there were people who knew the truth about what joan did to Christina and Christopher but because joan was a famous wealthy woman she was being protected cheryl crane daughter of lana Turner asked her mother if christina was telling the truth and she confirmed it was true cheryl was totally shocked sadly im not about this as Christopher and the twins they passed away several years ago only Christina is alive
I remember when the memoir was published. At that time, people did NOT tell stories about child abuse, let alone about famous, beloved stars. The book and the movie are criticized for making Joan look like a monster, but they are told from a child's perspective. A parent like this can appear to be a monster. They can beat you, humiliate you, starve you -- who knows what they can do? There were times when my mother abused me in ways similar to Joan, and I was terrified. It did seem like she was turning into a monster before my eyes.
I like that she hasn't healed from her childhood abuse. I felt a soccer punch in the stomach when she was excluded from the will. There are certain elements that remind me of my mom. I liked the scene when there was a ring under something and she moved it aside acting like she had to do everything.
I love Mommie Dearest book and movie. I think it's one of the best movies ever made. It's just so sad with child abuse, and the actress that plays Joan Crawford (Faye dunaway) embodied the famous actress. Powerful movie and book. Also, I just wanted to add that christina, yes, had a lot of trauma that came with the abuse, why she depended on her mother, like that thing of a mother saying u are NOTHING without me.
Oh wow, I didn't know that! I did see that the studio that released Mommie Dearest was the only studio Joan Crawford never worked for so that was interesting.
Talk about an absolute mess of controversies. I do think Christina did tell a lot of truths and considering there were people who knew who abusive Joan was but didn’t help cause she was Joan Crawford, movie star, makes it sadder. I never read the book, but seen bits of the movie and as over the top and weird it can get, the abuse scenes are absolutely awful to watch
With Joan Crawford, I separate my respect and admiration for her as an actress (one of the best) from the abuse claims. I’ve watched interviews with Christina, and of course the movie, but I haven’t read the book. Joan sounds very similar in personality and background to my abusive father, so many things about Christina’s claims ring true for me. Joan might very well have mellowed out somewhat by the time she had the twins, but again, who knows? Thank you for being so balanced and sensitive about such painful subject.
I agree that a lot of the things she says about herself sound like she is someone who came from an abusive home, which again makes me feel there is truth to what she says. And yeah, it's nice to think Joan improved as a mother as time went on, but clearly up until the end she still had ill feelings towards her two oldest.
Great job providing a balanced perspective! I agree with your viewpoint since none of us were there, we couldn’t know with certainty exactly what happened, but you make a compelling case that the truth most likely lies somewhere in between. It sounds like Christina, at least somewhat fueled by vengeance, and perhaps not getting her entitled “needs” met, decided to portray Joan only in a negative light in her book. The movie, accurately or inaccurately demonstrates other challenges that Joan was likely experiencing at the time, including being an aging actress in the 1940-1950’s. Without having a dog in the race, most of us realize that life is complicated, there is such a thing as nuance, and people are multifaceted, so we can deduce Christina probably was abused terribly, but maybe not as bad as what she described in her book.
The producer of The Secret Storm, the daytime drama Christina had a part on, went on the record that HE approached Joan to fill in for Christina, not the other way around.
Greetings, great video. I have read the book and watched the movie. Yes, many oeople cane to JCs defense but others confirmed the above. I knew soneone who was abused by both parents. Her older sister was able to move sooner to get away from the abuse. The parents were bat shit crazy but you would not know it when they performed at festivals, the family was musical and they played traditional Newfoundland music. The situation was just bizarre. Love your work.❤❤
So horrible, it reminds me of the part in Mommie Dearst when they are on the radio talking about their Christmas traditions and you would never have guessed what was going on.
Thanks for your review. 😊 I’ve seen the movie a few times and boy oh boy 😅 I never got around to reading the book. BUT both my grandniece and mother - neither were Crawford fabs as far as her movies - remembered Joan’s soap opera appearance. Both said it was like this young woman was there one day and then without missing a beat Joan Crawford - not Grand Hotel Joan but more William Castle schlocky movie Joan - appears in the same role. My grandmother tried to be nice and say she was okay. My mother - brutally honest as always - said “I think she was drunk!” 😂 And THAT was my first memory of Joan Crawford, years before I saw the movies that made her famous.
Oh wow, the fact that average viewers could even tell she was drunk is really saying something opposed to just Christina who knew what her mom was like when she drank. What an introduction lol, it's unfortunate though because she really was an amazing actor!
@@WhytheBookWinsIf you ever get an opportunity to see her in The Unknown with Lon Chaney Sr. or Grand Hotel or The Women, you’ll be getting her at the beginnings of her career. By Mildred Pierce she had the Crawford mystique down. Baby Jane - her AND Bette Davis 😂 A tour de force. When you get to Strait-Jacket and Trog you’re just in it for the camp. And oh crap. I think Diane Baker - who plays her daughter in Strait-Jacket has a slight resemblance to Christina Crawford so I imagine Joan had a blast as the mom who gets released from the asylum after chopping up her cheating hubby and his girlfriend. 😂 THAT should have been a book.
I read the book and, personally, I think that Christina’s personal accounts felt raw and authentic. At many times I felt she granted Joan a degree of grace and understanding, but that she had a deep hurt that her mother was always treating maternal love as an unattainable privilege rather than something that should be a given in a parent child relationship. I was struck by how the mind games Joan played and the gaslighting she used on Tina felt like the same thing one of my aunts goes through with her mother and how hurtful it is and draining it can be. The fact that Christina wrote it all at a time where it would’ve been frowned upon to vent about the harm inflicted by a narcissistic parent … yeah, frankly, I have a lot of respect for the girl. Joan was a talented actress, yes, definitely, but it doesn’t mean she was always in the right. I can never understand people excusing her from having taken her anger and rage out on her kids.
I'm planning on releasing that video the end of November! My main video will be on the Crawford movie but I might do a follow up video sharing my thoughts on the show.
@@WhytheBookWins I think it would be interesting to compare both adaptations to the book, particularly as the miniseries is actually more loyal to the original book, whereas as the 1945 film was made more of a film noir melodrama with a murder at the center of it, which did not happen in the book at all.
Considering the circumstances that this was Christina‘s first book, and it was coming from a place of pain, I get it. I too, am working on a memoir, and let me tell you one of my biggest concerns is how it will be received.🤔
Christina told Larry King that the book was written from the perspective of a child, this fact is often overlooked . I have read the book and agree that the movie gives a more layered view of the dynamic between mother/daughter. Jmo
Because so many events are impossible to verify, because of the complexities in psychology and parenting, this feels like an impossible topic to tackle. Brava for giving it a thoughtful effort, but this is a rough one. I agree The Glass Castle was on a different plane, that the lack of judgment or bitterness on the author’s part is what separates it from Christina Crawford’s obvious hatchet job. And yeah, I’m guessing she wishes she waited til she wasn’t so raw, but if she was going for the money, maybe not. I have never read Mommy Dearest, but if the movie gave a more balanced look into Joan’s side? Wow. Hard to imagine it was worse in the book.
I really feel bad for christina and Christopher what they went through in there childhood is heartbreaking she was brave to write her book and tell her story especially at the time it came out i heard many people didn't like that she wrote the book including betty Davis of all people hopefully it helped other survivors i didn't know this until recently due to her childhood she choose not to have kids i understand her decision i watched the movie when i was a child it was hard for me to watch it and traumatizing never read the book i hope someday there will be another adaptation on christina book
Honestly? I don’t blame Christina one bit. If I had a famous parent (especially a rich one that cut me out), I would have dragged them for filth too. Maybe that’s wicked, but oh well 🤷♂️ Good video! I had never gotten around to reading the book, but the movie is definitely a guilty pleasure.
It possibly could have been hard to have been a known child of a celebrity and a young woman at that time and find a good paying job? This may be one of those situations that’s hard to look at with a modern view. I do know it was so difficult to work and go to school when I was doing it 20 years ago. You are sooooo correct about kids having different experiences with their parents!! My husband and I will say that we are much better parents with our youngest and we were with our oldest. Not because of anything nefarious. We were just young and an experienced with our first.
Yeah true, I don't know what the school/job life balance would have been like back then. And yeah, parents change so much jay because like you said, at the beginning they are younger and are figuring it out as they go along.
It's interesting to hear you say that the movie humanizes Joan cause I've heard the complete opposite. Like from what others have said, it made her out to be this inhuman monster with the no hire hangers scene, that creepy scene where she's lotioning her elbows after Christina discovers her dolls gone and how she kinda went demonic when cutting Christina's hair which from what I heard wasn't in the book and also when she had that physical brawl with Christina after Christina embarrasses her during her interview. I just find it kinda interesting how some seem to say the movie made Joan out to be worse than she was and others say the book is the one that makes her out to be worse than she was.
Yeah the book doesn't have the haircut scene, but it does have the scene when she attacks Christina and Christina claims Joan would have killed her had someone not pulled her off. But yeah, others may have a different takeaway but i still think the movie was more well rounded though it is still over the top in many ways.
Thanks for the review! I haven't read the book, but I've always wanted to. I love the movie! One thing I'd like to mention about Christina's obsession with money. Often times, parents expect their kids to look "the part". Let's say they were raised in an affluent/rich but abusive home, where it looks like the kids are spoiled. But when the kids grow up and aren't emotionally equipped to hold down a well paying job, they are still pressured to look "the part". I imagine growing up around all these other rich families who don't abuse their kids, she did feel entitled to money. It's like she was owed that money for enduring the trauma her mother put her through. Then, having to type other student's papers to make money must have been humiliating to her. Obviously I believe Christina's accounts of abuse growing up. But who knows. As Faye Dunaway has stated: only God knows the truth about what really happened between the two of them. I have a lot of thoughts on it as I saw the movie on tv as a little kid and it made me cry because I didn't understand why grown ups would let the abuse go on. I now love the movie as a camp classic!
This is one of those stories I will never read or watch, because 1) I'm a mom and 2) I also suffer from childhood trauma. I cannot conceive this unacceptable level of abuse. I know about this story for years and all the surrounding drama. I was very curious to listen to your analysis. Some of us won't have the courage to do it. It feels too close to home. Congratulations on that. :) Putting myself on Christina's shoes, you do display some odd behaviours when you're a victim of childhood trauma. You may become flirtatious and an anxious people-pleaser. It's a sign that you weren't loved nor protected at home. You may also dissociate from the events that happened (as in the sexual assault scene) and/or develop an avoidant attachment style. The fact that Christine comes back and forward may indicate some memory fog or confusion, which is quite typical in many victims. You have to try to remember things as clearly as possible. And you're not able to move on and become independent because your caregivers were constantly ensuring themselves you would never be able to fly with your own wings. It's their goal. At the same time, you still crave for their love and attention. And you finally become "infected" by the caregivers "disease". You may not be narcissistic but you still display some of those traits, such as taking revenge. Joan Crawford was hurtful until the very end. Christine's book is only a revenge mechanism against her dead mother. For Christine to succeed in life and with her book she needed to heal first. That is the saddest part. She overcame nothing in the end. She just responded in her own toxic way, allowing the controversy to happen. Maybe one day "Glad My Mother Died" will become a movie. Then, you can compare both book and movie and add this one as an example of what happens when people don't heal. Keep up your excellent work!
Thank you so much for sharing! And yeah people want the "perfect victim" who has a perfect recollection of things but that just doesn't exists. And so true about McCurdy's book! I wish I would have thought to reference that one in this video.
Christina isn’t perfect? What a shock! She was entitled and annoying and I guess that makes her less of a sympathetic character. Maybe she saw her mother help others with money and the fact that her mother wouldn’t give her money made her feel inferior. Maybe Joan showed love through money. So, if your mother won’t help you financially, maybe it makes you feel unloved and brings up terrible emotions. I have no idea if that is what happened, but it is possible that there is a deeper reason why she wanted financial help as a young adult. Child abuse is a one-sided crime. This is why I do NOT tell anyone about my childhood abuse. It just makes you a target of more judgment. I recommend that no one ever speak of their abuse outside of therapy. People don’t deserve to know and you don’t deserve the judgment.
Yeah it takes a lot of courage to open up about this, and then especially to write a book and really open yourself up to scrutiny. But I'm glad she shared her story and was one of the first to really being awareness to child abuse in this way.
I have no interest in reading the book, but have seen the movie so i can only speak to that. I have no doubt that joan was problematic, but i never found the abuse portrayed in the movie particularly harsh, which probably says a lot about my childhood. Christina however comes across as spoiled and bratty. I think that strapping a kid in bed was fairly common at one time as a treatment for sleep walking or falling out of bed. When the picture of dana andrews brother popped up on screen, i totally said, "he could play dana andrews." We'll never no the full story, etc., but ill remain team Joan.
Oh wow I need to look up about strapping kids in bed-that seems so horrible but I guess back then old school parenting methods could be pretty wild by todays standards. And yeah, it's impossible to know the complete truth. Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts!
You didn't find Joan cutting up Christina's hair, feeding her rotting meat, the entire "no hire hangers" scene or when she tried to choke Christina out particularly harsh? I'm truly sorry for what you had to endure in your childhood if you had it worse than that.
Christina claims she began the book after the reading of the will, but others say that Joan cut Christina from the will because Christina began working on the book and Joan was aware of it. So it's hard to know the truth. If she cut Christina from the will because of the book, that makes sense, but it doesn't explain why she cut Chris out as well.
It’s sad how Chris is essentially forgotten. I do believe there’s some truth to the book but none of us on the outside will never know what really happened.
What I don’t get is if Joan Crawford is that why go through so much to adopt if you’re going to act all wicked stepmother on her? Did Joan Crawford have a psychological imbalance?
Plenty of people want children cause they like the idea of parenthood but get irate at the fact that their kids are their own people. My aunt has a mother who is frequently passive aggressive and withholds affection to feel like she’s winning. The idea of motherhood to her is having a child who obeys everything and if that’s not how it goes it’s the kid being defective. I think that was Joan’s MO with Christina.
@@Nightman221k one thing about that is that just because you want kids, doesn’t mean it works to just wing it. I feel Joan should have done her homework. I definitely have to wonder what her own mother was like cuz mothers tend to take after their own mother and then to snub her in the will? She should have at least had the decency to state why. I don’t think she loved her two oldest because she wouldn’t have cut them out of the will if she had
The book has a lot of factual inaccuracies, like Joan got the children legally and Christina even said the twins weren’t biologically related (they sued her for this and won in court!). I would just look at the credibility or the source because Christina’s been a proven liar multiple times (for instance, in the book she tries to make Joan out to be a racist because she supposedly didn’t allow Christina to invite her black friend to the birthday party but home movies of that party has since surfaced and the black child was not only in attendance, but seated next to Christina the entire time). Even the thing about Christopher being strapped into bed being horrible was something the doctor recommended because he slept walked at night and they were afraid he’d harm himself. Again, I’d just take those things and the source into consideration!! (Also you mentioned the cutting of the rose bush and Christina said in an interview on YT that that never happened)
In the book she says she threw a fit until Joan let her friend come to the party so that would explain why she is in the photo. And in the book also says Chris was strapped into bed too prevent sleep walking. I don't remember whether she said a doctor advised it though. And in the book we know all of the kids were adopted, sorry if I made it seem like the twins were Joan's biologically.
I do enjoy the movies campiness. I am not laughing at the abuse just the over the top way Faye Dunaway deliver some of lines like in front of a reporter . It’s a fun movie to mock but still sad nobody came and made a more serious movie. I do come out feeling bad for Cristina so it’s not all camp or bad though. That’s crazy that she pulled out of school over the Christmas card. I also think the truth is in the middle or it’s often hard to know
Why were the twins never mentioned in book or movie is it because the twins would have gone after Christine for defamation? The one thing that got me was how she didn't like that she was only allowed to keep 1 birthday present and the rest were donated to underprivileged children that's the only part of the movie that I was like why is she so spoiled why not give the presents to underprivileged kids you got a house full of toys and she got mad because she had to give up her toys on her birthday I don't know you know I really don't know cuz I've never been rich...lol..but she was given one heak of a bithday party..if that was even true or just put in the movie idk.Thank you I love your channel 😊
Yeah i agree, donating you many toys seems like a nice thing to do! And yeah, she got lavish birthday parties, but in the book she says she felt lonely because the people and kids invited tended to be people she didn't even know. And thank you! 😊
I think some of it was learned behavior. Joan was also quite entitled. But also she may have been somewhat resentful of the show put on by her mother. Everyone sees her give her daughter all of these presents making her seem so generous and loving. Then, seemingly without discussing it with Christina, Joan tells her she can’t keep them (and even the giving the toys to charity was more PR for Joan). Christina was a little kid and little kids are inherently selfish and entitled because THEIR world revolves around them. They don’t know better yet. Joan should have helped her daughter understand. I don’t hold that against her.
I would say most people with money help out their kids. I heard Joan didn't want to give them anything. I can understand Christina's POV. All the abuse she suffered, later on in life does kind of make you feel entitled and RESENTFUL! Like at least the very wealthy parent could kind of make up for it by helping you more or giving you what other wealthy parents give their kids, you have to think... surely she saw that all around her, those rich kids having the support and monetary from their wealthy parents, so that also makes you feel bad about everything, never really feeling loved. It's not her fault. She lived a certain lifestyle that was extravagant, and then the wealthy parent doesn't want to support that lifestyle anymore. That doesn't make sense to me as a parent. As a mom, I wouldn't deprive my kids of things and want them to have more than I did. Her brother's statement says a lot.
@WhytheBookWins Looking forward to Baby Jane, lol. When you watch that, can I recommend watching "Feud" Season 1. Jessica Lange plays Joan and Susan Sarandon plays Betty, they were fabulous and it all takes place during the time they filmed the movie!
I believe it was true. From hearing a story my mama told my daddy. My great-grandfather a preacher man. My great grandparents took my mom for ice cream cone. The ice cream melted on her pretty dress. My great grandmother upset went and cut my mom pretty long dress for that. When my grandmother died when my mama was just a teenager. My so called grandfather give the kids to my grandmother family. My mama and her baby went to one of the aunts. She made my aunt sleep in a box. When my mama got in trouble she whipped her with dog chains. Lucky my uncle came and got the girls to go live with him. Back then nobody talked abused that was life to them.
Christina strikes me as insincere. I know people cope with their traumatic past in their own ways but everything she says just puts up a red flag in my head. Why is it every few years she re-releases the book with sudden new material? Why is it she goes to releases of the film and allows drag queens to chase her with wire hangers? I know real abuse. I've been truly abused. And I would never poke fun at it in that way. Something about her whole trajectory is off and I'm not buying what she's selling
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I'm sorry to hear you also have experienced abuse. Like you said, everyone deals with trauma differently. I am close to someone who was abused growing up and as the decades have passed he will make jokes about it in a dark humor kind of way. So Christina might not act in a way that makes sense all of the time, but I don't see that as proof she isn't telling the truth.
